The date on the link you posted is wrong, how could he have tweeted in 2007 s about something that occurred (Gareth Thomas entering Celebrity
Big Brother) only last Thursday. In addition Gareth Thomas wasn’t out in 2007.

You really got to take your hat off to Oxford City FC for taking homophobia seriously… how ironic that they are taking the lead and the English FA are 100 years behind them… The English FA should be ashamed of themselves for being so slow in tackling homophobia in football… i hope this sends a signal through the whole of football..

Ill preface this by saying I am an out gay man, actively involved in volunteer work and my local gay community, so no, im not a closeted self loather..but seems a little heavy handed. Does the guy have a history of homophobic rants? Maybe it could have been handled in a way that didn’t take away the guy’s livelihood and could have been beneficial to gay awareness and causes..

I mean, how many crap jokes about anal sex does it take for you to get fed up with ‘lads’ humour. “Aww only joking, where’s your sense of humour? ( turns back to his mates in the pub) F*****g benders”.

I think you have to look at it as unprofessional conduct from one sportsman to another and also look at how would a closeted gay footballer in the same team feel about coming out (or being outed) if team mates were saying that it was necessary to padlock your **** when near them. It is not just the statement but the atmosphere the statement creates in a professional sporting environment. His statement could affect a closeted gay players career and livelihood and remember it is this kind of “laddish behaviour” which gets replicated in schools and playgrounds sometimes with devastating effects. I think this was the right decision as no tolerance to homophobia should be shown within the sport.
–
I do sometimes think we over-react to some sleights and sometimes people get a raw deal for some stupid statements but this one was very directed, unprofessional and has significant potential to damage both within the game and beyond.

Well, the club manager is quoted as saying it was the most difficult decision he had ever had to make in his career. And presumably the club was trying to look for a less harsh way of dealing with this in the intervening few days since the tweet and its belated removal. I would imagine that if the player had issued a full, unreserved apology to Gareth Thomas and to everyone else affected (not easy to do since many many people are affected), then a lesser sanction might have sufficed. We can only assume that no such way out could be found which was satisfactory to all concerned.

A lot of players have been brought up by their Christian families who have been taught to make less of LGBT people, this is what they teach and preach openly in Christian Churches today, hate and destruction of others who are different than you and then they form groups to go out and covertly harass these people who are different to “change” them. Never have I seen so much madness in the Christian Church by the people who profess to love one another. These Christians are the ones who have lost their way and who are working for Satan the destroyer and hater of all.

Stu,
It may be at a tangent but can you deny that there are elements of organised religion who see it as their duty to denigrate and demonise anything they do not like. Martin is correct in that many “christians” closet their children so they can bring them up as clones. Not as much in the UK (but home schooling is becoming more frequent) but in the US it is endemic and not just the christians.

Good for Oxford City for making a stand. For someone in Lee Steele’s position he should know better. They don’t pay them those huge amounts to abuse other players no matter what game. If you can’t act professionally like your getting paid to then you shouldn’t and don’t deserve to be in the public eye.
–
Hopefully now some will start to see times are changing and if you wish to be respected, then learn to respect others.
–
If you can’t, then don’t blame others when you pay the price.

It seems draconian for a (possibly?) first offence of this nature but the story hints at a long discussion process and perhaps this idiot left the club no alternative if he had refused to make a public retraction and apology, for example. At the very least it’s good to see an FC taking abuse of lgbt people seriously, whatever the details.

Seems appropriate to me. I am in no doubt that if he had made an equally derogatory and offensive comment about a black or asian player he would quite rightly have been dismissed therefore I this should be addressed in a similar manner. I have worked in a number of different positions and organisations over the years and would expect to have been very heavily disciplined if not sacked in any of my roles if I made such a comment. It’s good to see that in this instance homophobia is being recognised for what it is and not dismissed.

Well done Oxford however don’t try to say the statement is homophobic but not the person . if he thought it said it he’s homophobic. It’s like saying Oxford aren’t at the top of the league but it’s nothing to do with th players!! Well done but tell it how it is

Great to see Oxford take a strong stance and take clear, unambiguous action to show that homophobia has no place in society – and that includes in football …

Disappointing that the manager tried to minimise the event. I appreciate he may feel loyalty to the player – but he is also an ambassador for the club and sport …

As for Mike, or Matthew, or whatever name he is choosing to use today … yes I do have an opinion on this – it is to strongly endorse the strong stance taken by Oxford Utd. It is consistent with my view that homophobia is never acceptable. It is the view that is growing exponentially in society. For too long some in football thought racism was nothing to do with football; it shouldnt – and football needs to make sure racism has not place there – and that there is no place for homophobia.

And not even an original insult but the same old cliched hackneyed tripe ‘phobes come out with in the locker room. Its cringeful that people still use these insults in this day and age, the old “back to the wall lads” mentality. Lee Steele should just die.

Looking forward to seeing what arch homophobe and Millwall supporter, Sunday Times columnist Rod Liddle can snivel up this weekend. Last week, rather than commenting on the Stephen Lawrence verdict, he attempted to unravell Diane Abbotts `white` tweet . How? By sneering at criticism of Liverpool FCs pathetic support for a players racist remark. Rod is a hoot! Never uses the gay word when `homosexual `will do. Hint -people usuallly talk and write about issues which personally affect them.

Now how do we dismiss all people today who are homophobic? If only we had a button we could push to get rid of all anti gay people. For example the people who say “no homo”, is something the Christians thought up to harass LGBT people. How can we make a no anti gay Christian button to push to get rid of them?

If only we had a button to push to lose all homosexuals, the world would be a better place, we would have non of the whining and people could get on with normal life, instead of being harassed and bullied by people who commit sodomy.

PinkNews covers religion, politics, entertainment, finance, and community news for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community in the UK and worldwide. Founded to produce broadsheet quality journalism for the LGBT community, we cover politics to theology in an intelligent manner.